Consciousness and Pure Awareness

Consciousness is when you are aware that you are awake and alive with thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It can be either strong or weak, but attachment to the body and the mind are present. In consciousness there is always an ego and to get rid of it is virtually impossible. As long as there is consciousness there is an experience of "I Am."

Pure awareness is still within consciousness but it is far beyond the other states of consciousness. If you are very acute to your states of consciousness you can easily understand and experience the various levels that your mind and thoughts reside in any moment during your waking state.

Although you may be conscious you may not necessarily know what your body is doing. This may sound strange but this is the state of consciousness in which most people reside most of the time. In this particular state of consciousness thoughts are not in harmony with the body. This narrow state of consciousness is called waking sleep. The diagram on the right illustrates the various states of consciousness with the Absolute being non-consciousness. The Absolute ends at the edge of the diagram, of course, but in actuality goes on indefinitely.

Absorption and attention are two other states of consciousness in which you can find yourself. If you have ever been so caught up in something like a movie or a sporting event to the point you feel as though you are actually in the action, you have experienced absorption. Attention is when you are intently listening and/or watching something or someone but not caught up in it to the point of being absorbed. However, the act of paying attention can drag you into absorption and even waking sleep without you being aware of it.

When your mind and body are in harmony with one another and your thoughts are in the moment and you have a sense of what's going on around you, you are in a state of consciousness known as awareness. When you are in awareness your thoughts are connected to what you are doing. You may be talking to someone while noticing the other person's expressions and mannerisms, and you are aware of other people and vehicles passing by, the various sounds in the area, and other external conditions. You are totally in the moment.

Last put not least is pure awareness. Pure awareness is awareness with one additional component. That one additional component is the awareness that there is something present which is greater than you. That something may be a feeling of vastness or power in the universe. It may be a knowing that everything in the world and the cosmos is connected. It may be God or it may be a sense that there is a giant eye watching you and everyone and everything. Whatever it is, it is infinite and everlasting. Pure awareness is the ultimate state of consciousness. There is no other level of consciousness that will give you more clarity in the awakened state.

If you were to go beyond pure awareness you would no longer be conscious. You would not be thinking or sensing. There would be no body or mind. You would have no desires, worries, attachments, experiences or even awareness of anything. It would be non-consciousness, much like dreamless sleep. Non-consciousness is the Absolute and existed prior to your birth and will exist after your life. The Absolute exists, even now, in your life during sleep and awake. In non-consciousness (the Absolute) there is no sense of presence because the "you," the "me," the "I Am" no longer exist.

Pure awareness and the Absolute may overlap and merge together but ever-so slightly. When you are on the edge of pure awareness you may be at the point of going into non-consciousness. By abiding in pure awareness you will soon come to the realization that you are not this, but you are the Absolute and always have been. When on the edge of pure awareness everything is very quiet and there is spaciousness and no thoughts but there is still a sense of presence. Presence is the experience of "I Amness" and a sense of self. Although thoughts are absent there is still the sense of being because the body is still present.

Although the Absolute is always present, the sense of it is lost due to the thinking mind. Your mind creates concepts about yourself and about others forming what is known as the ego. The ego keeps you identified with your mind and body. When you see yourself as someone or something, you have identified yourself with concepts and therefore have lost touch with the Absolute. When you are in pure awareness the sense of mind and body are minimal and the deeper you go into pure awareness the more you will lose touch with them. It is possible to go so deep that the body and mind disappear. This is about as close as you will ever get to the Absolute and still remain in touch with presence. The only thing that exists at that point is the sense of presence.

Intricacies of Pure Awareness

Being in pure awareness brings you into a totally different realm of existence than what you are probably use to. For the most part you have lived most of your life in waking sleep, absorption, and maybe you have even paid attention now and then. But in pure awareness you can turn to the inner world and the outer world by taking less thought and more insight into the Source of all that is. You become attuned to the silence deep within the core of your very being - the transforming life force - the True Self. You realize that you are more than just a body and a mind - you are one with all that is and everything that isn't.

The inner world is the innermost depths of your being; every cell, molecule, atom, energy, and non-energy. The outer world is everything outside of you; trees, sky, stars, and beyond. In pure awareness there is no "I" or "me." Even though there may be chaos all around, all is quiet inwardly and outwardly with silence permeating your very existence.

You may have experienced this phenomenon at various times in your life and not realized it. It may have been when you gazed at a beautiful sunset in awe. For that brief, tender moment you were not thinking about your worries, problems, desires and values. For that moment you were immersed in the beauty and wonderment of the moment and you were one with all what was happening. The self was nonexistent in that very brief moment in time.

There are all kinds of ways to express one's experience with pure awareness but words cannot describe it. Some say they are are in the space of awareness that contains everything. Some people say that it is the intimate feeling of being in the presence of a higher power while others might believe themselves to be part of an impartial and indifferent space called the infinite. In another experience, you may "melt" into and become the vast space of awareness or void of the universe.

We may have a variety of labels for pure awareness but our concepts and interpretations do not really matter. These are simply conceptualizations that do not belong in the direct experience. Of course we are limited by our senses and experiences but we can still have a profound love and appreciation for what extends beyond whatever we want to call it.

Next, we will take a look at consciousness and where pure awareness fits into it.

The Beauty of Pure Awareness

You are a conscious, living being. You can be happy one moment and sad the next. You have a body and you have a mind. Consciousness, emotions, body, and mind are so interrelated it is often difficult to discern where one starts and another ends. It can be very confusing. But it doesn't have to be confusing because you have the capacity to let all the confusion go. You can allow yourself to open up to a bigger picture.

If you live in a narrow consciousness, you are limiting yourself to a limited view of what life has to offer. By ignoring what nature has provided for you right here and now, in this world of wonderment and beauty, it is like living in a dark cave. It is as though you are in a cave with one flashlight seeing only objects on which the light falls. You see only small segments of the cave one piece at a time. The light shines on a stalagmite one moment and then a stalactite, and then a bat hanging on the ceiling, and then a fish in a pool. There are many things you are missing with your narrow beam of light. Such is the case with narrow consciousness.

Take your time, slow down, and "smell the coffee." Be alive and enjoy life. Enjoy the inner and outer beauty and the inner and outer joy that God has given you. Allow your consciousness to expand and become one with nature. Use your whole body and mind, all of your senses, your surroundings and the natural environment internally and externally. Seeking something away from yourself and away from the world always ends up in a tragedy because you can never find what you are looking for. Mother Nature (God) has provided you with so much here in this world there is no need to look somewhere else.

Pure awareness allows you to see the big picture and all its magnificence. Pure awareness goes beyond lower levels of consciousness of waking sleep and absorption and way beyond paying attention. Pure awareness even goes beyond awareness. Pure awareness is very close to the outer limits of consciousness.

Come out of the cave and stand in the sunlight, under the clouds. Hear the wind and see the magnificent colors of the country side. Feel your heart beating in rhythm with billions of other hearts. You are not alone. Be aware of your breathing. Sense the prana - the life force within you. Your awareness expands into the cosmos, beyond the stars, the planets, and into infinity. This is the beauty of pure awareness.

Next - The intricacies of pure awareness.

Svetasvatara Upanishad

Although this is the last Upanishad I will review it was one of the favorites of Swami Prabhavananda. Swami Prabhavananda was a famous Indian philosopher, monk, author and religious teacher in the early 20th century.

This particular Upanishad focuses on how to properly meditate for becoming one with Brahman (God). It also discusses the importance of Om, Maya, the mind and the body for that union. This is the only scripture of the Upanishads which mentions a wheel as applied to birth, death, and rebirth. The wheel is mentioned twice in the scripture and stresses the importance of freeing one's self from its grip in order to become immortal.

The scripture is relatively short but at the end there are 175 lines of poetic verses giving praise to Brahman. I can easily imagine how it could be used as a mantra.

The instructions on how to meditate in order to realize God are rather straight forward as follows:

Where you meditate must be free from disturbing noises and "pleasing to the eye and quieting to the mind." The correct posture is very important when meditating. You must sit upright with the chest, neck, and head in straight alignment. The senses and the mind must be focused on the lotus of the heart. By uttering "OM," concentration and focus will deepen so that pure consciousness becomes distinct from ordinary consciousness which usually pervates the mind.

By meditating on the Infinite, the Absolute, you will lose the illusion (Maya) that you are the body and the mind. You will become one with God. Birth, death, and rebirth will be no more and Inner Reality will be realized.

I would like to discuss the aspects of pur awareness in more detail in the next post.

Kaivalya Upanishad

This is a very short and to the point scripture explaining Brahman and how to meditate and become Brahman. The first part of the scripture is a question from a disciple questioning the teacher about Brahman and the rest of the scripture is the teacher's answer. The teacher's answer is in two parts: 1) how to meditate and 2) the characteristics of Brahman.

Here are the teacher's directions for meditation:

1) Retire in solitude.
2) Sit in a clean environment.
3) Have an erect posture with head and neck in a straight line.
4) Be indifferent to the world.
5) Control all of your senses.
6) Focus on your heart, be mindful and meditate on Brahman.

The teacher goes on for two pages about Brahman, but in essence what he says is that Brahman is the infinite - the All. Brahaman is the witness of everything. Brahman is the unchanging Reality. Focus on this truth and become Brahman for now and forever and become one with Brahman.

After that Brahman speaks and says "I was not born; I have neither body, nor senses, nor mind. I, the Supreme Self, dwell in the lotus of the heart. I am pure. I am One without a second.

Brihadarankyaka Upanishad

It took me awhile getting through this Upanishad because I became engrossed in the dialogues between the characters. I studied the stories and took notes so it took me more time than usual getting through the scripture. This scripture kept me intrigued because it kept hinting that it would divulge the secret of how to know the true Self. I didn't want to miss the details.

The characters in Brihadarankyaka are seers, lengendary sages and gurus who slowly release their knowledge of the true Self to their various inquisitors. The students, princes and kings who come to these enlightened ones keep asking them about how to know the true Self and how to become one with it. They want to obtain this knowledge for the sake of becoming liberated from the drudgeres of life. But the gurus are shrewed and slow to release the information at the consternation of both the questioners and the reader (me). The gurus want to keep their inquisitors quering them to make sure they have honest intentions and are not just curosity seekers. Eventually the answer to who the Self is and how it is attain is revealed.

The scripture starts off with Vamadeva who is actually god Shiva. Vamadeva soon realizes who Brahman is and immediately becomes the true Self. He proclains for all those who seek and learn to know Brahman will become the true Self as well. From there the story switches to a conversation between Ajatasatru (a guru) and Gargya (a seeker). In the beginning the two argue over what is Brahman and what is the best way to worship him. Finally after much discussion and argueing Gargya asks Ajatasatru to teach him about Brahman.

Ajatasatrue and Gargya come upon a man sleeping and Ajatasatru explains that when the man is in deep sleep he is without senses and thought. But when he is dreaming he lives in a world of his own with actions, desires, and worries much like the waking state. The Self is without actions, desires, and worry like deep, dreamless sleep. Gargya leaves with understanding of Brahman, focuses his meditation on Brahman and becomes one with Brahman.

The next story is about a legendary sage, Yagnavalka, who has two wives. His second wife, Maitreyi, married the sage primarily to learn how to become wise like him and become immortal through knowing Brahman. Yagnavalka explains to her that wealth, wishing, hoping, and desiring immortality will not work. He tells her that she must hear about Brahman, learn about Brahman and constantly meditate upon it. He says, "By knowing the Self, my beloved, through hearing, reflecton, and meditation one comes to know all things."

He explains to her that in order to know Brahman one must become dissolved in the Eternal - pure consciousness. Consciousness must disappear for there is no consciousness in divine illumination. He explains to Maitreyi that consciousness must disappear. Where there is the true Self, individuality is no more. However, Maitreyi is confused and doesn't understand.

Yagnavalkya explains to her that duality is the result of living in the self and the material world, but when one becomes dissolved in the illuminated soul one becomes the true Self. He further tells her that she must understand that Brahman is the soul in each person and that he is indeed the Self in all because the true Self is all. There is nothing more or less than the Self.

King Janaka of Videha becons Yagnavalkya to his palace and in the end tries to give Yagnavalkya a thousand cows for being so wise. Yagnavalkya becomes so popular that people all over the kingdom seek him out. He has conversations with many people and explains to them that "The knower of the truth of Brahman overcomes death." They all want to know what he knows. They want to learn about Brahman. They want to know how to meditate on Brahman. Yagnavalkya does his best but they don't seem to understand. They continue asking him the same questions over and over and he continues to give them answers in all kinds of ways but they still don't get it. They get angry and try to trip him up by testing him with puzzles and word games but he anwers them all correctly. They want to reward him with thousands of cows but he refuses saying, "One should not accept any reward from a diciple without fully instructing them."

The questioning and answering goes on for quite some time and finally Janaka asks Yagnavalkya, "Who is the Self?" Yagnavalkya tells him that there are three states of being - the state in this world, the state in the next, and an intermediate state between the first two. The intermediate state is like dreaming where you experience both this world and that of the next. When you die you will live only in the subtle body illuminated by the pure light of the Self. In the intermediate state there are no real material things; only the light of the Self. The most profound statement that Yagnavalkya makes is, "Everyone is aware of the experience; no one sees the Experiencer. The Self shines by its own light."

Below is my summary:

To become Brahman (the true Self) you must do three things:
1) Learn about Brahman.
2) Reflect on Brahman
3) Meditate on Brahman

Braham and the true Self are the same thing. In today's terms they are known as God - the Creator - the Absolute - the All. The true Self is beyond the small self you call "me" with all your material baggage. In order to know the true Self you must lose all your baggage including your attachment to the mind and your body.

In order to reflect on Brahman you must experience him, and in order to experience him you have to meditate in absolute silence without sensations or thoughts. You must experience what it is like to have full illumination without senses and thinking.

Once you know Brahman and have experienced him you must live your life in his presence. This requires full awareness of his illumination. You must live your daily life with the realization that Brahman's illumination is in every thing and everything is Brahman with no exceptions. Then and only then will you become Brahman.

The next Upanishad is Kaivalya Upanishad. A very short scripture.

Chandogya Upanishad

So, anyway, here we are back with the Upanishads. This Upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad, is the longest I've read up to this point. It's about eight thousand words long. The other Upanishads are shorter, in the range of one thousand to two thousand words.

The first part of this Upanishad stresses the importance of knowing Brahman as the true Self. According to this scripture Brahman is the light that shines in the hearts of all men, of the world and of the universe. By concentrating on Brahman one can become one with Brahman. All human desires, sensations, thoughts, deeds and appearances come from Brahman (God). But even so, these things are not all the important because they are superficial and do not convey the true essence of Brahman.

This scripture says that the true Self is achieved by having a purified mind and a purified mind is achieved through meditation, sacrifices to study of the scriptures, almsgiving, austerity, the practice of continence and having a good teacher. I thought it sort of strange to say "sacrifices to study of the scriptures" until I realized how repetitive and boring they are after about the first four scriptures. So I will plow through them and sacrifice, hoping you can stay with me through the duration. There are only three more to go, so please don't give up on me. Let's see if we can get though this together.

The last part of this scripture hammers home the idea that Brahman and the Self are the essence of all things. It does this with conversations between various students and their gurus. The students ask questions and the gurus answer by telling stories that eventually lead up to the answser which always is the fact that Brahman is everything and once you understand that you become one with Brahman. The messages are basically the same; the stories different. Here are some samples:

Student - "I have head from the wise that the knowledge that the Guru imparts will alone lead to the supreme good."
Guru - "The life is Brahman. The sky is Brahman. Bliss is Brahman. Know thou Brahman!"

Student - "Please, sir, tell me more about the Self."
Guru - "The body dies when the Self leaves it - but the Self dies not."

Student - "In what does the infinite rest?"
Guru - "The infinite is below, above, behind, before, to the right, to the left. This infinite is the Self. The Self is below, above, behind, before, to the right, to the left. One who knows, meditates upon, and realizes the truth of the Self - such as one delights in the Self, revels in the Self, rejoices in the Self."

Student - "What then is that which dwells within this little house, this lotus of the heart, is to be sought after, inquired about, and realized?"
Guru - "The lotus of the heart, where Brahman exists in all his glory - that, and not the body, is the true city of Brahman. Brahman, dwelling therein, is untouched by any deed, ageless, deathless, free from grief, free from hunger and from thirst."

Student - "How does one become realized one with Brahman?"
Guru - "By becoming absorbed in the Self. The Self is immortal. The Self is Brahman. This Brahman is eternal truth."

Students - We have heard that one who realizes the Self obtains all the worlds and all desires. We have lived here because we want to learn of this Self."

Guru - "The Self is indeed seen in these. The Self is immortal and fearless, and it is Brahman. And the pupils went away well pleased."

Student - "In such knowledge I can see no good. I require further knowledge about the Self."

Guru - "Rising above physical consciousness, knowing the Self to be distinct fromt he senses and the mind - knowing it in its true light - one rejoices and is free."

These few quotes were taken from many, many pages of text and are only a fraction of the dialogues between students and gurus. But they reflect the main purpose of this scripture in that one must meditate on the higher Self and not physical things in order to be free from worldly problems, desires and thoughts.